While casually visiting a website, have you ever noticed a small popup in the top left-hand side of the browser? A call to action asking you to allow or block notifications. Well, spoiler alert, that website is running a push notification campaign!
In today’s article, we are going to learn about an increasingly popular way webmasters engage with their audiences and keep visitors returning to their websites.
We’ll cover what are push notifications, what are the benefits of running a push notification campaign and we’ll briefly review how you can set them up to work with your WordPress website. In the second part of the article, we listed the 10 best WordPress push notifications plugins and compared their features to save you time and effort!
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What are Push Notifications?
A Push Notification is a new technology that allows webmasters and app developers to communicate with their audience.
Push notifications could be described as “alert messages”. They appear in small clickable boxes on your PC’s desktop browser or on your mobile screen.
They are, generally, used to transfer real-time updates about the activity of a website.
For example, a news website could notify users about a breaking news story and an e-commerce store could notify customers about a special offer.
Push notifications are also popular with social media sites and apps. For instance, notifications of a new match on Tinder (or other apps), friend requests, and instant messages are usually delivered by push notification.
Push notifications were first introduced for Android and IOS devices. Since its first release in 2009, the technology has been rapidly adopted and is currently supported by most modern web browsers.
Below is a screenshot of a website prompting us to accept push notifications. By clicking “allow”, you will allow the website to send you updates via the browser. The beauty of the technology is that subscribers don’t have to be on your website to receive notifications! All they need is a running browser on their PC or mobile phone.
When to Use?
When should use web notifications? Listed below are 5 sample situations.
- To notify readers about a new post.
- To notify customers about a special offer.
- To notify users about their website activity.
- To remind customers and visitors about an event or to complete a task.
- To personalize the web experience.
How do Push Notifications Work?
The communication protocol can be summarized in 3 steps.
Step #1: Get Subscribers
The first step is to “subscribe” a user. In other words, you need your a visitor’s consent (the allow or deny pop up in the browser) to send them notifications. Technically this is known as a PushSubscription. A PushSubscription contains all the data you need to send a push message to that user and device.
Step #2: Send a Message
When a message is sent to subscribers, an API call is made from your application/website to a push service. The API call includes what information to send and who to send the message to.
What is a push service? – see our top picks
Push services receive requests to send messages. They validate them and deliver them to the appropriate browser. If a browser is offline, the message is queued until the browser comes online.
Step #3: Push Event
Once a push message is sent, the push service will keep your message on its server until one of the following events occurs:
- The device comes online and the push service delivers the message.
- The message expires.
When your browser receives a message, it will decrypt any data and dispatch a push event in your service worker.
A service worker is a “special” JavaScript file. The browser can execute this JavaScript without your page being open. The notification will then be rendered to the user.
That’s the summary of the process! If you would like to go through each step in more detail, please review the Google developer documentation.
What are the benefits?
Modern inboxes are crowded and very competitive. Too many emails are simply ignored. Therefore, as a marketer, push notifications may be a wonderful medium to engage and keep visitors returning to your website! However, it’s also advised not to “overdo it”. You don’t want to annoy your subscribers.
Push Notifications and WordPress
Setting up push notifications on a WordPress website is as simple as pie! Install one of the suggested plugins, sign up with a push service provider, and add your API key to your site. Once configured, you will be ready to start accepting subscribers to push messages to!
10 Best Push Notification Plugins for WordPress
1. Gravitec.net
The smooth installation process and an intuitive UI makes Gravitec.net the favourite push service for those who like simple and straightforward tools. You can use all of their features right after you install their WordPress plugin. However, Gravitec supports any websites, including those created with site builders such as WIX and Shopify.
There is no need to code or use additional scripts even to use more complex features like automations. You need just a few clicks to set up automations such as RSS to Push. And, they will deliver notifications to your subscribers according to your schedule.
The Gravitec free plan includes 10,000 subscribers. For $8,7 you will get generous limits — 30,000 subscribers per website, unlimited segments/automations/users.
Advertised features include:
- 1-click activation — In one click you get the full set of features. It’s that simple!
- Life-Time Deal — Pay once and get access to all of the features to life
- Custom permission prompt — Choose how, when and where to ask visitors for permission to send notifications
- Segments — Create as many subscriber segments as you wish
- Targeted campaigns — Send notifications that correspond to subscriber behavior, their location, device and language
- Bell widget — Let your subscribers choose categories of content they want to see. And, let your visitors re-subscribe in one click.
- Drip Campaigns — Send series of notifications to your new subscribers
- RSS to Push — Automatically alert subscribers about your new content
- Tweet to Push — Automatically send your tweets in push notifications
- Welcome Message — Welcome your new subscribers
- Push Digest — Send daily and weekly digests with your most popular content in one notification
2. WonderPush.com
Let’s kick off this list with WonderPush. An exciting startup from France, WonderPush is making a name for themselves as one of the best providers of push notifications.
The price is clear and simple – just $1 per 1,000 subscribers with unlimited notifications and unlimited websites. All features are included without having to pay more.
The service is also fully compliant with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). European data is hosted in Europe on Google’s Cloud Computing infrastructure. Via their API you even have the flexibility to decide how long your data is kept on their servers.
WonderPush also integrates with WooCommerce and supports cart abandonment.
Advertised features include:
- 14-day free trial
- Targeted notifications
- Rich formats
- Automation
- A/B testing
- Real-time analytics
- Superfast setup
- Easy migration from competing providers like Accengage, Batch, and OneSignal.
3. OneSignal.com
OneSignal is by far the most popular push notification service in the world, boasting over 500,000 customers and sending over 2.5 billion notifications a day. For good reason, it’s a top-class service but it’s also free of charge for an unlimited number of users and devices.
Setting up the service to work with your WP website is a straightforward, 15-minute, affair. For developers, extensive documentation on their API can be found on their website.
Advertised features include:
- Web and mobile browser support – Support for Chrome, Safari, Microsoft Edge, Opera, and Firefox.
- Automated notifications – Notifications can be sent to your readers every time a new post is published. Reminders can also be configured.
- Targeting segments – Send messages to specific visitors based on language, the number of times they’ve visited your website, or even define your own attributes to target.
- Opt-In customization – Choose when and how to ask your readers to subscribe to browser notifications.
- Real-Time analytics – Examine how your notifications being delivered in real time, and see them convert into visitors.
- A/B testing – Test different call to action messages to small sets of your visitors. And then send the most effective message to the rest of your visitors!
- Scheduled notifications – Set a time and date to send out messages, based on a user’s time zone, or even based on the time of day they last visited your website.
4. PushCrew.com
PushCrew is brought to Wingify. The company behind VWO.com, the popular A/B testing software.
Configuring the plugin, literally, only requires you to enter your account ID. Administration of push notifications is handled on the PushCrew platform.
The service is free for the first 2,000 users, while a premium account starts at $18 per month.
Advertised features include:
- Rich push notifications – Boost customer engagement by adding big images and emojis to your push messages.
- Powerful segmentation – Organize subscribers based on website activity such as pages views, products viewed, products added to cart, device type, and location. Send them targeted push notifications to drive user engagement.
- Behavior-based Triggered Campaigns – Automate your messages based on real-time website visitors’ behavior. A great way to communicate with your audience and guide them through your sales funnel.
- Personalized notifications – Personalize your message by addressing your subscribers by name, previous purchase history, favorite brand, and much more!
- Supercharged dashboard – PushCrew offers a state of the art platform to analyze the performance of your campaigns. In real-time, you can track ROI, click-through rates, conversion rates as well your pre-defined customer parameters.
- RSS to Push – If you have an RSS feed on your website, you link it to PushCrew to automate the delivery of push notifications.
PushCrew has some of the most advanced features in the business and is trusted by companies with the likes of Domino’s Pizza, Lenovo, TUI, and HubSpot. I found the case study section of their website to be most interesting.
5. SendPulse.com
Web push notifications are offered as part of a suite of communication services.
To active the plugin on your website, you will need to sign up for an account on SendPulse.com. Registration takes no longer than 5 minutes.
In a similar fashion to OneSignal, SendPulse is also free to use for unlimited subscribers and unlimited push notifications. For €8.85 per month, paying customers have the option to remove SendPulse branding.
Advertised features include:
- Cross-browser compatibility. Supported browsers include Chrome, Safari, and Firefox.
- Personalization and segmentation. Send out personalized messages and targeted notifications based on location, and website activity.
- A/B testing. Test your push notification campaigns against each other and determine which campaign offers the highest ROI.
- Trigger messages. Set up automatic messaging when certain conditions are met.
- Real-Time stats. See your notifications being delivered in real time, and analyze your campaign’s performance metrics.
- Developer API. Using the SendPulse API means that you can send web push notifications, emails, and SMS through a single platform.
6. GetPushMonkey.com
PushMonkey is one of the best solutions to set up push notifications on a WordPress website.
Their pricing policy is rather steep compared to their competitors, but the service is free of charge for the first 100 users.
Advertised features include:
- Granular filtering – Offers better control over what type of notifications are sent out.
- Segmentation & geolocation – Organize your subscribers into clearly defined categories by interest or location.
- Automatic – Automate push notifications to be sent out when a post is published.
- Statistics – PushMonkey delivers all the analytics you need to track the performance of your campaigns directly in the WordPress dashboard.
- Super fast setup – Installing the plugin is a breeze and requires no coding skills.
- WooCommerce integration – PushMonkey can be programmed to track the activity of your shoppers and help or remind them to complete the sales process.
7. Izooto.com
Izooto offers web notifications with a focus on e-Commerce. Their approach is built around converting visitors into paying customers. The service integrates with Magento and Shopify websites, but unfortunately, there is no mention of WooCommerce.
In parallel to their e-Commerce product, Izooto offers a messaging solution for publishers. And it’s no surprise that WordPress is supported. Installing the plugin is simple and requires little effort.
The publishing product is offered free of charge for unlimited notifications and devices. However, ads will be served alongside your messages (you will be compensated).
Advertised features include:
- 1-Click activation – iZooto can be integrated into any WordPress website with the click of a button!
- Effective user engagement – Keep your users updated about new content additions using web push notifications.
- Monetization – Monetize your subscribers using targeted contextual native ads delivered using push notifications. With the potential to drive incremental revenue as your subscriber base grows.
8. GetBeamer.com
Another helpful tool to boost customer engagement is Beamer! Beyond push notifications, Beamer also offers a notification center where you effortlessly announce your company’s latest news.
Pricing is pretty reasonable. It’s free for hobby projects with up to 1,000 visitors and then $49 per month when you exceed that threshold.
Highly recommended for its notification center, I find it’s a cool idea, and I could see our company implementing it on our website.
Advertised features include:
- Share posts – Share your latest updates with your users using text, images, videos, and gifs.
- Post scheduling – Create posts and schedule them to be published at a specific time and date.
- Automate push notifications – Notifications are created automatically when new posts are published. Keeping customers engaged has never been easier!
- User feedback and reactions – Collect user feedback on your announcements so you can make better decisions.
- User segmentation – Target specific groups of users based on behavior, location, and demographics. Stop sending all your customers the same announcements.
- Customize your design – Change the design of your Beamer newsfeed to match the style of your website.
- WordPress plugin – No coding required to install the WordPress plugin.
9. Subscribers.com
Another provider in your push notification arsenal is Subscribers.com!
What I like about Subscribers.com is that it focuses exclusively on push notifications. Their UI is intuitive, and installing the plugin is effortless.
Like many other providers, they do offer a limited free entry plan. The first 200 subscribers are free. With more subscribers, you will need to upgrade to a higher plan for $29 per month. Funny enough, push notifications to Safari is not included in that plan. To target Safari users you will pay a whopping $99 per month.
Advertised features include:
- Supports Chrome (Desktop) and Firefox (Desktop) with Android and Safari support coming soon.
- Works on both HTTP and HTTPS sites
- Communicate with your audience in real-time
- Much higher open rates than emails
- Real-time reporting and tracking
10. PushAssist.com
Last but not least on our list is PushAssist.com! It’s another option for WordPress bloggers and WooCommerce store owners!
This company also focuses entirely on push notifications. They offer one of the most competitive rates. You get 3,000 free subscribers! The only catch is that they will feature their logo, which is not the worst.
Advertised features include:
- Instant notifications – Notifications appear as message alerts and even sound alerts depending upon OS.
- Powerful APIs – Provides easy to use REST APIs, available via secure HTTPS to send and receive data.
- Segments – Smart segmentation divides your users into groups with segmentation.
- HTTP/HTTPS – Compatible with both HTTP or HTTPS WordPress websites.
- Campaigns – Premium accounts can send or schedule marketing notification campaigns from PushAssist control account Panel.
- Automatic – Automate notifications when publishing new posts.
- Site Logo – Customize appearances by adding your own logo.
Plugin Price Comparison
In the table below we are comparing the cost per month for running a campaign with 10,000 thousand subscribers.
| Price per month | Entry level | Full feature access |
|---|---|---|
| WonderPush.com | €1 | €1 |
| OneSignal.com | Free | $99 |
| Izooto.com | Free | $250 |
| SendPulse.com | Free | $15 |
| GetPushMonkey.com | Free | $19 |
| PushCrew.com | – | – |
| GetBeamer.com | Free | $249 |
| Subscribers.com | Free | $99 |
| PushAssist.com | Free | $299 |
Some service providers are “free”. Which, naturally, is rather suspicious since we all know that there is no free meal in this world.
In the case of OneSignal.com, I quote:
OneSignal is a free service that supports unlimited devices and notifications. OneSignal makes money by selling data to advertisers and research companies.
For companies looking for increased data privacy, a paid service provider may be more suitable.
Let us know your experiences with push notifications. Which plugin are you using and have you seen an increase in traffic, session duration, or return visitors?